Apparatus for the transportation of solids in pipe-lines.



A.v SCHILLING.`4 APPARATUS FOR THE TRANSPORTATION 0F SOLIDS IN PIPE LINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.29. |911.

Patented Apr. 30,1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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IN1/ETR.

WITNESS;

ATTORNEYS.

I A. SCHILLING. APPARATUS FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF'SOLIDS IN PIPE LINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29. I9I7 I 6496@ Patented Apr. 80, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESS.

tAT'US JEOR THE TRANSPORTATION 0F SOLIDS IN PIPE-LINES.

To all 'whom t may concern.'

Be itA known that ll, AUGUST SCHILLING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Appara-l tus for the Transportation of Solids in Pipe- Lines, of which the following is a specification.

rThe present invention relates to an apparatus for the transportation of solids in pipe lines by means of liquid conveying media.

The invention is particularly applicable to the transportation of crystalline salt-in brine and will be so described and illustrated hereinafter, but it is to be understood that its use is not so restricted, but that it may be employed for the transportation of any other solid material of like nature in any suitable liquid. Asv an apparatus for the transportation ofsalt the invention constitutes an improvement on the recesses for which United States Letters atents Nos. 1,091,252 and 1,091,251 were granted to John Stauifer on March 24, 1914, under title of Method of cleaning salt and method of transportatingy salt, respectively-` In the method disclosedin the aforementioned Patent #1,091,252crystalline salt is dumped into a brine solution and is transported in suspension in said brine through suitable devices by means of a pump. lnthe use of this method for conveying salt it has been. found in practice that not more than three per cent. of crystalline salt can be conveyed in the brine solution. If more than this amount is dumped. into the brine the solid material collects and piles up at the entrance of the pump intake pipe and-clogs the same, thereby destroying the lifting power of the pump. rThe obj ect of the present invention is to provide a pump and pipe system which will take up and carry with the fluid a relatively large proportion of' solids. When used for salt conveying actual tests under practical working conditions have demonstrated that an apparatus constructed -under the principles of my invention is capable of transporting as high as 35% of crystalline salt in brine without any noticeable clogging either at the intake of the pipe or at any' point in the pipe line. By thus increasing the amount of salt transported in a given amount of brine the expense of such transportation is greatly reduced and the size of Specification of Letters Patent. Paymmltgd pyugcu, 1mm

Application led March 29, 1917. Serial No. 158,243..

the plant, and consequently the initial cost thereof, is also reduced.

The invention will be. hereinafter described and is illustratedin the accompany- A ing drawings in its preferred form, but it 1s to be .understood that changes in the form and construction of the device, with-.

within said sump and is partially covered by a screen 3. Openings 2 are provided in the wall of said hopper to enable the liquid from said sump to enter, but said openings,

being preferably in the form of narrow slits,

prevent any solid material from escaping from the hopper to the sump. The salt to be conveyed is dumped into the hopper` `2 through the screen 3, said screen preventing the entrance of any particles or lumps too largeto be properly handled by the conveying apparatus.

Within the hopper 2 and extending nearly to the bottom thereof is a. pipe 4 which forms the intake pipe for a centrifugal pump 5 located above thehopper at the upper end of said pipe 4. The pump 5 may be driven by any convenient means, as for example an electric" motor, illustrated at 6 and connected with said pump by means of a shaft/Z. The outlet of the pump 5 is brine, with the salt in suspension therein,

is conveyed to any desired place of deposit.

In'Fig. 1 of the drawings 1 have shown a receiving tank- 9 into which thevbrine from the outlet 10 of. the pipe line 8 is dumped, and over which. is placed a screen 11 to catch the salt and remove the same from `said brine. A return pipe line 12 is provided for conveying the brine back from the discharge ta'nk,9 into theump 1.

At the outlet of the pump 5 the discharge 110 extends upwardly and connects with a pipe 18 is connected with through the screen 3. The

14 extendlng back into the sump 1. The outlet of said pipe 14 is positioned in the bottom of the hopper 2, in alinement. with the lower end of the intake pipe 5 and is spaced therefrom as shown at 15. A bracket 16 is provided to hold the ends of said pipes 4 and 14 in proper relation. j A control valve 17 is provided in the pipe '14 and a branchpipe said pipe 14, through which water from any yconvenient supply maybe introduced. A valve .19 is -provided in said water inlet pipe 18 and a drain or test valve 20 is also included therein. 1 The operation of the apparatus is as folows:

The salt is dumped into the hopper 2 pump 5 is thenv started and the brine from the .sump 1 is drawn up through the intake pipe 4, carrying therewith the salt in suspension. Said brine with the ysalt contained therein is conveyed through the pipe line 8l to the discharge station, at which the salt is removed from the vbrine bythe screen 11, and the brine allowed to return to the sump, through 'the return pipe 12. A portion of the brine from the discha'rgepipe 8 is'led olf through the pipe'14, and issues from the mouth 1 5 thereof asa stream having considerable vevinto the intake pipe locity and directed at the mouth of the in'- take pipe 4. This stream issuing from the pipe 14 acts as an injector to forcibly carry 4 the salt which collects in the bottom of the hopper 2-and thereby prevents said salt.

of said pipe 4. By thus positively inject.-

mouth` of the intake agreatly lncreasedamount of salt can be handled inI a given quantity of'brine by a given size of pump and pipe. By taking the pipe 14 out of the upper vside of the horizontal portionof the' discharge pipe 8 ofthe pump, very little salt is taken olf through 'said pipe 14, for the reason that the salt suspended in the brine solution flowing through the horizontal portion of the pipe 8 naturally lies inthe lower portion of said' pipe, the upper portion of the stream flowing therem containing very little of the crystalline salt. Thus the removal of a portion of the liquid through the injector pipe 14 does Anot .reduce the conveying ca acity of the plant, but on the contrary re uces the total amount of material flowing through the pipe 8. A smaller pipe may therefore be used than would otherwise be the case. If the brine in the system becomes .depleted, fresh water may be added thereto through the pipe 18. In this connection it may be stated that the brine solution need not be saturated, because the crystalline salt invention. VIn this from piling up in the bottom of said vhopper and clogging the intake" through the discharge pipe 8, vby

dissolves very slowly even in fresh water. Therefore the addition of fresh water to the brine does not materially affectthe capacity of the plant.

In Fig. 2 of the drawings, I have shown a modified form of ap aratus'embodying m fibrin the driving sha t 7 of the motor 6 is horizontal, and the suction intake pipe 4 is inclined within the hopper 2 of the sump 1. In this apparatus two pumps are used, the main pump 5 being used solely for pumping the salt. and brine mixture through the conveyor pipe 8. A11 auX- iliary pump 21, driven from the motor shaft 7 draws brine from the sump 1, outside the hopper 2,through a suction pipe 22, and discharges the same into the injector pipe 14, said injector pipe having its outlet l5 in the bottom of the hopper 2, and spaced from and in alinement with the end of the suction intake pipe 4. A fresh water inlet is provided at V18 for supplying water to the injector pipe 14. A valve-control 17 is provided in said injector pipe; a fresh water valve 19 is provided in the fresh water pipe "18; and a draw-oli' valve 20 is also provided as in the previously described form of the apparatus.

In this form of the invention, I prefer to use a jet or a number of jets of liquid to stir up the salt in the bottom of the hopper 2. "For this purpose, I provide a'branch 23, in the injector pipe 14, said branch ending in a number of stirring nozzles 24 positioned in the bottom of the hopper 2 and directed upwardlyin the region of the mouth rof the suction pipe 4.

The operation of the modified form of apparatus illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings is essentially similar to that of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1. Thebrine with the salt in suspension is drawn up through the suction intake pipe 4 and is conveyed the pump 5, to any suitable place of deposit, not shown in the drawings, at which thesalt is understood to be separated from the brine in any desired manner and said brine returned'to the sump 1, issuing thereinto through the ipe 12. The injector pump 21 draws brine from the sump 1- through the pipe 22, and

discharges the same through the pipe 14 as* a stream having suitable velocity and directed into the mouth of the intake pipe 4. At the same time a portion of the brine in the injector pipe 14 issues in the form of upwardly directed streams through the stirring nozzles 24. The combined action of the stream from the injector pipe 14 and the meats@ in practice, it is preferable to construct the suction pipe 4 with a diameter slightly larger than that ofthe conveyerpipe 8. By v gency to flush the system and remove clogged salt therefrom.

The position of the outlet 15 of the injector pipe 14 with respect to the mouth of the suction intake pipe 4 is important. ln the vertical form shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the injector pipe and the suction pipe should be centrally alined, and in the inclined form shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the mouth of the injector pipe should be'positioned as to direct the stream therefrom against the lower surface of the suction pipe 4, for the reason that the greater' part of the salt carried into said suction pipe 4 will lie along the lower portion thereof.4 The mouth of the injector pipe and the mouth of the suction pipeshould be spaced by a distance not less than the diameter of said suction pipe, in' order to enable the stream issuing from said injector pipe to impart suicient velocity to the salt engaged thereby before entering the mouth of the suctionpipe, but this distance must notlbe so great as toi permit the stream issuing from the injector pipe to lose any material portion of its own velocity. lt will be seen v from this statement, that the velocity of the stream issuing from the injector pipe con' f stitutes 4the agency relied upon for carrying the salt collecting in the bottom of the hopper into the mouth of the suction pipe.

' rlhe form of theinvention shown in Fig. 1

of the drawings is preferably lfor the reason that but one pump is necessary. At the same time, the carrying capacity of the pipe line 8 is increased rather than diminished by removing .therefrom a vportion of .the brine. As before stated the removal of the brine from the upper portion of said pipe 8 does not result in the removal of any material portion of the salt therefromg/ Having thus described the invention, what lf claim as new and desire to protect by Let ters Patent is An apparatus for the described 'purpose comprising a sump adapted to contain a liquid, a hopper Within said sump adapted to contain solids suspended in said liquid, a pump having a suction intake positioned Within said hopper adjacent its base, a discharge pipe leading from said pump and adapted to convey the liquid with the solids suspended therein, means at apoint distant from said sump for receiving said conveyed liquids and solids for separating said solids from said liquid, means for returning the j separated liquid vto said sump, an injector nozzle extended into said hopper at its base and positioned in alinement with and spaced from thesuction intake of said pump, ermitting the solids in said sump to co lect around said suction intake, whereby the fluid discharging from said injector nozzle forces the same under pressure into said suction intake, and a connection between said discharge pipe and said injector nozzle for conveying a portion of the liquid in said discharge pipe under pressure to said nozzle.

lin testimony whereof 1 have signed my name to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses. 

